STOP THE CONSTRUCTION! SAVE KRUS NA LIGAS FROM EPALS!

NO MORE EPAL MOVEMENT

26 October 2012


Contact: Betty Romero (No More Epal) 0917 821 7227

   Kate Lim (Dakila) 0917 708 0988

(DISCLAIMER: Any opinions written in this post are Dakila Philippines' own and do not reflect the viewpoint of any other Naga City Deck and/or NCD Contributor)

STOP THE CONSTRUCTION! SAVE KRUS NA LIGAS FROM EPALS!

The No More EPAL Movement and Dakila joins the Krus Na Ligas Community in UP Diliman, Quezon City, today, October 28, 1pm at the Krus na Ligas Covered Courtin their resistance against the intent of their Barangay Captain Julian Santos to construct a building right on Plaza Sta. Ines in front of their parish church.

To deliver solidarity speeches in creative satire are Juana Change (Mae Paner) and cultural activist Carlos Celdran.

The public action is initiated by the Krus Na Ligas community headed by its parish priest Rev. Fr. Ron Roberto and supported by the Krus na Ligas High School Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) represented by Mr. Mamaril, and SK Councilor Mark Carlo Francisco.

Lola Kika, one of the oldest resident of the community will also deliver a solidarity message.

The construction plan, backed by Quezon City Councilor Vince Belmonte, is being pushed down the throats of the Krus na Ligas residents, who value their plaza as the only public space available in their barangay.

The Barangay Chairman intends to push through with this completely unpopular plan despite:

• The significance of the plaza and church to the history of nation-building—not only to local history; 

• The congested character of the Barangay, which makes the plaza their irreplaceable,  non-negotiable common open space; 

• The clear public rejection of impunity on the part of the Barangay leader; 

• The obvious lack of merit of a construction project in a barangay that already has an under-utilized barangay hall; 

• The shadow of doubt hovering over the Barangay Chairman, who owns a construction company—a company, moreover, that has accepted part of a barangay construction project, in clear dismissal of conflict of interest considerations; and 

• The community’s arguments against this exercise of impunity by their local leader.

The NO MORE EPAL MOVEMENT recognizes this fight of the Krus na Ligas community against their local leader, as a clear example of trapo leadership. It is a leadership that cares little for their own constituency’s interests and aspirations.

The Barangay Chairman of Krus na Ligas, and his enabler Councilor Vince Belmonte, demonstrate in their deafness of the calls of this Quezon City community, their idea that leaders can do anything they please. They think they are entitled to autocratic powers. They think their ideas and actions are above public debate.

The NO MORE EPAL MOVEMENT believes that this kind of impunity is of the same wicked spirit as using public funds to plaster their mugs and names all over public space.

Constructing a 2 story building on a plaza built in a place that the National Historical Institute has marked as the site where Andres Bonifacion and his Katipunan cohorts would retreat from Balintawak—this desecration of a space held in the heart of nationalists, among them, the Krus na Ligas residents—this spits on community honor and right to well-being.

The NO MORE EPAL MOVEMENT encourages all right-thinking citizens to join with the Krus na Ligas residents in persuading their Barangay Chairman and Councilor Vince Belmonte to have a change of heart.